Academic scandal: Hariri Republic

There was an outrageous scandal in Lebanon yesterday. There was an academic conference at the Antuniyyah University. Academics, journalists, and politicians were all assembled. One of the professors at the university (and a vice-president), Pascale Lahhud (I don't know who she is), read a paper which merely made a reference to a new article by two Western business professors in Leadership Quarterly titled "The dynamics of effective corrupt leadership: Lessons from Rafik Hariri's political career in Lebanon", The Leadership Quarterly 21 (2010) 33–49. (I read the article yesterday: the authors clearly are not experts on Lebanon or the Middle East: and it showed. They think that by mentioning Ibn Khaldun they can cover up their lack of Middle East studies training. And even on the corruption of Rafiq Hariri and the Lebanese political system, they barely scratched the surface and they did not know where or how to collect their data. Yet, the fact that the lousy name of Rafiq Hariri was mentioned in the same sentence with corruption, led to a state crisis in Lebanon yesterday. Most politicians withdrew from the hall, the press office of Sa`d Hariri issued a formal protest and called on the university to "erase" the harm done to the memory of lousy Rafiq Hariri. The professor--shame on her--issued a clarification and apologized for "harming" the lousy memory of Rafiq Hariri. Even the University itself issued a statement denouncing the "harming" of the lousy memory of Rafiq Hariri. And of course, the various members of the entourage of the Hariri family (from the senior ones, like Fu'ad Sanyurah, to the very minor ones, like the Minister of Information, Tariq Mitri--the man iwth the least dignity in Lebanon's government--and he is a former leftist) also joined in. Here is a report on what happened, and here is comrade Khalid's comment (he called it a "sad day for universities") on the matter. And of course, you can always rely on the lousy right-wing (and sectarian) L'Orient-Le Jour to support censorship in Lebanon. It is very reliable in that regard, although it does believe in the freedom of expression for right-wingers in Lebanon and beyond. (thanks Emile)